Entertainmentopia - Interview: Onesidezero

Entertainmentopia recently sat down with Onesidezero lead guitarist Levon Sultanian to chat about the recently released album from the band, Guitar Hero, and what's coming up in the near future for them. Check out our interview below, and our review of the album right here.

Entertainmentopia	So how did you guys get started?
Levon Sultanian	It was in '97, we were playing in different bands around town...It was just me and my buddy Travis Prentis (OG OSZ drummer) jammin' and trying to put a new project together. Through some of our mutual friends he heard about Jasan and invited him over for a jam. Still needed a bass player so I invited my ol'buddy Peter Pres over to handle the bass playin', even though he was a guitarist as well. Anyway, that night Jasan and I just didn't say much other than, 'What's up, let's just jam and not talk too much?' After that jam J and I knew we had something special and we would jam again. Shortly after we went through some classic band shit and lost our rythm section. Which was a blessing, cuz that led us to find the rest of the guys...Brett, Rob, & Cris....
Entertainmentopia	Who or What are your influences in music?
LS	Between the four of us we all have so many different and similar influences in music. From the bands we like to different styles of music we like: The Beatles, Slayer, Billie Holliday, Pantera, Mozart, Naningo, Punk Rock, The Blues, Mambo, Classic Rock, Jazz, Fusion or anything really... if it's good and moving we're probably gonna love it and be influenced by it.

Entertainmentopia	Sometimes there's a lot to a name, how did you guys get yours?
LS	It was back in the day '97/'98... J and I were talking about changing our original name (Everyone Is Talking Suicide) to something else. So the next day he came to practice with the name Onesidezero. I loved it and that was it... We always like a name or title to mean something to us. Most of the time it's a hidden, vague phrase where everyone will read and understand it their way.

Entertainmentopia	What's your favorite thing to do on tour (besides actually playing shows)?
LS	-We like to go out into town and be tourists... -Meet & Greets before shows are fun...(we like to invite lots of girls to our shows) -Meet & Greets after shows are always a fav. -Practical Jokes on everyone... -Write music, watch movies or play video games...fun times eh?!?!

Entertainmentopia	Guitar Hero: Awesome?
LS	From what I hear it's awesome... that's one game I haven't played much of yet. I think Jasan has it. I'd love to get one of our songs on it though...

Entertainmentopia	Why aren't you guys in there?
LS	uuummmm....Probably because we haven't had a huge commercial hit on the radio yet... ha! They should do Guitar Hero Undergroud or Guitar Hero Indie next so then maybe we'll have a chance at getting on the tracklist. HA! My goal is to write a huge mega hit song though actually to get on with the big boys like EVH and Slash!

Entertainmentopia	It seems the response to the new album has been decidedly positive looking over other reviews and customer opinions on Amazon. Do you ever feel that you're missing an opportunity to be a little more commercial, but may come with more label interference in creating radio-ready stuff?
LS	No, I think we have radio ready stuff all the time on our albums. It's all about how things get marketed and not being lazy from all ends (label, management and band), it's all about favors, and mostly it's all about the all mighty $$$!

Entertainmentopia	What's coming up next for you guys?
LS	For Tomorrow May Rain, So I'll Follow The Sun

Entertainmentopia	Thanks for your time!
LS	Thank You!

For more with Onesidezero check out the band's official website, or their MySpace page for song samples and other related goodies. Entertainmentopia would like to thank Levon for taking the time to answer some of our questions.